Opinion: Obama deserves scorn for fundraising — and so do Republicans

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — President Barack Obama has done more than 400 fundraisers since taking office, already far exceeding the 328 racked up by George W. Bush during his entire eight years in the White House — though he’s still well behind the all-time fundraising champion, Bill Clinton. It’s a shame Air Force One doesn’t come with frequent flyer miles; Obama has racked up plenty with his countless trips to the West Coast and New York, the two main, and seemingly inexhaustible, sources of cash. “Stop fundraising, start doing your job,” one Republican National Committee petition demands.

But all the attention on Obama overshadows one rather salient fact: Republicans are sipping the very same Kool-Aid, and in many cases beating the president and his fellow Democrats at raking in the green. In fact, take a closer look at the image above. The petition so critical of the president’s endless fundraising…is a fundraiser itself. It’s just one example of Washington’s holier-than-thou hypocrisy — a cynical game that both sides play.

Data out Tuesday shows that in the 2013-2014 election cycle, Republicans have raised $211 million for all Senate candidates (an investment that looks increasingly likely to pay off in November), while Democrats have brought in $201 million. That’s a fairly slim advantage, just $10 million. But on the House side, it’s a far different story. There, the GOP has a lopsided fundraising edge: $430 million to $321 million. All told, despite all the attention and conservative outrage directed at the president, Republicans have brought in $641 million this election cycle to the Democrats’ $523 million. You know what they say about people in glass houses.

Who’s writing all these big checks? Of the 100 biggest individual political contributors, 48 gave 90% or more of their donation to “Democrats and Liberals,” while 49 gave 90% or more to “Republicans and Conservatives.” (There are 103 people in “top 100” because some gave the same amount of money.)

A few fat cats smartly diversify their bets. Seth Klarman, the widely-respected founder of Boston private-investment firm Baupost Group, gave 12% to Democrats and 88% to Republicans, while serial entrepreneur (and early Facebook investor) Sean Parker gave 43% to Democrats and 57% to Republicans.

This data from the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service, which was compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, can also be broken down by industry. Among the ten biggest industries in the country, eight give more to Republicans, including securities, real estate, health care, insurance and oil & gas. Just two give more to Democrats: business service firms and lawyers and law firms.

The big donors here — securities firms, insurance companies, commercial banks and real estate —can all be lumped into one mega-category: the financial sector. This is far and away the biggest source of cash to anyone running for office today. This cycle alone, it has donated $297 million, 62% of it to Republicans and 38% to Democrats. But as big as that figure is, it’s chump change compared to what the financial sector will give in 2016. In 2000, for example, it gave $317 million and in 2004 $352 million. But in 2008, a year of economic turmoil, bailouts and a blizzard of financial-related legislation, donations ballooned to $515 million, which grew even further in 2012 to $688 million. The only one of these cycles in which Democrats got more than Republicans was 2008 — and then it was just 51%. The financial sector is quickly headed to becoming a billion-dollar gusher of cash for candidates for Congress and the White House — and their party of choice is almost always Republicans, by a fat margin.

There’s one area where Democrats retain a huge advantage over their GOP brethren: organized labor. Of the top ten organizations giving during this cycle, Democrats are the principal beneficiaries of eight — including the Carpenters & Joiners Union, Service Employees International Union and the National Education Association. But even these powerful outfits pale in clout when compared to ActBlue, a bundler (Washington-speak for a collector of cash from many contributors) for Democratic candidates. Its take so far this election cycle: a whopping $37 million. Cha-ching indeed.

Let’s be honest: the amount of time the president spends flying around the country to raise cash is atrocious. But what you don’t hear from Republicans is how much time they (and Democrats) spend raising money themselves. It works out to about four hours a day. You heard correctly: members of Congress spend about four hours a day making phone calls and attending fundraisers — time that could be better spent working for you. When it comes to fundraising, the president is deserving of scorn, but so is the other side.

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